Pup netters fight to fifth place finish at Goddard

The McPherson High boys tennis team had a somewhat slow start Saturday at the John Markham Spring Classic in Goddard, but still managed to scrap a fifth place finish in the team rankings.

Chris SwickSports Editor

The McPherson High boys tennis team had a somewhat slow start Saturday at the John Markham Spring Classic in Goddard, but still managed to scrap a fifth place finish in the team rankings.“I felt like we could of finished a little higher,” MHS coach Tyler Brown said. “Maybe as high as third if we play to our potential. That is going to be the key this year, finding a way to play to our potential.”Seniors Ryan and Peter Horton had the highest finish from any of the Bullpups Saturday, as they took fourth with a 3-2 record in doubles play. Dylan Stos and Luke Williams went 2-3 and finished 23rd.In singles play, Gallagher Martin had a respectable 4-1 record for the tournament to finish 17th. Kento Aizawa went 3-2 and finished 21st.As a team, the Bullpups finished tied with host Goddard with 79 team points, but won the tiebreaker with a 55.4 winning percentage.Blue Valley West won the team title with 141 points, followed by Salina Central (134), Wichita Collegiate (92) and Wichita Independent (83). In all, 16 teams were in the field of the classic.Going forward, Brown feels his team is a top three state team, as long as they iron out some inconsistencies.“With three of our six players playing varsity meets for the first time,” Brown said, “along with even our veteran players, we just have to find a way to be consistent and finding a way to win matches we are supposed to. And then, once that starts to happen, finding a way to get that win over the player or players that are supposedly ranked above us or a little better than us. Tennis is such a mental sport. We have to grow in that area along with consistency and we will truly start to battle with some of the best teams in the state as a whole.”The Pups are back home on Saturday to host a seven team invitational at the MHS tennis complex. Start time is at 8 a.m.